Characters
Shutaro Mendo
He is the honourable Shuutaro Mendo. Scion of the richest family on the planet, descended of the samurai cast. Shuutaro is heir to the 4 trillion dollar Mendo Conglomerate. His family owns much of Japan as well as chunks of many other countries. They are a militaristic government on their own. They have their own secret police, and even more spectacular is their highly advanced and powerful private army that could very well blow away the Japanese army if need be.
Mendo tries to live his life by the codes of bushido. He is well-bred, stylish, talented, athletic, handsome, chivalrous, disciplined, intelligent and wealthy. In short, he's everything the girls go crazy for...especially the part about money. Pretty much all females who don't know any better find him irresistible and Mendo doesn't do anything to discourage them either. He is an exceptionally active womanizer. He'll hit on just about any woman he sees. Mendo treats all women like they are goddesses, but similarly he treats men like garbage.
Mendo first arrived suddenly one day as a new student at Tomobiki High School parachuted from one of the Mendo private heavy bombers. Mendo who has no tolerance for idiots or ugliness immediately became rivals with our protagonist, Ataru Moroboshi. Mendo could easily have just about any woman he wants but he just leads them on. The only woman he truly wants is Lum. Suffice it to say, Lum's not interested since she is completely faithful to Ataru. This is the greatest factor in contributing to Mendo's enmity towards Ataru. Still even though he has power, honour and good looks, most of the time, Ataru can still get the upper hand over Mendo.
Without his power or genteel manners Mendo is more like Ataru than he'd readily acknowledge. Not the least of which that they have two of the biggest libidos in Japan. They always compete over women. Of course Mendo goes about it with far more tact than Moroboshi, but that's not always the case. As time passes Mendo turns out to be just as much of an idiot as Ataru.
Mendo's greatest fault is his pride. On the surface he seems to be as close to perfection as possible and he knows it. He's really full of himself. That being the case, it's easy to anger him with nothing more than a quick insult. When his honor is offended or if given the slightest provocation, he whips out his ancient katana and threatens to kill. When this happens, Ataru has been able to train himself to catch the blade in his bare hands, a very difficult move to pull off. In more dire moments Mendo goes as far as dispatching his army to fight his private battles.
Mendo has an acute fear of the dark and of cramped spaces. Either one of those things can cause him to go uncontrollably mad with fear. But staying true to his vain nature, this fear is nullified whenever he sees that a woman is present. Ataru loves to use this to bring Mendo down off his high horse by encasing him in a large temple bell trapping Mendo in a terrified panic. While he's usually a pathetic, cowardly figure at such times, he sometimes becomes momentarily psychotic and goes completely berserk. Enough to rip through a thick solid steel encasement. It so happens that when Shuutaro was a child, a future version of himself caused his phobia to emerge.
As an added note, the symbol of Mendo is the octopus. The family crest is an octopus face, much like those on festival masks. The octopus is his biggest hobby and he has a large number of octopi as loyal pets.
Mendo's orders are followed out by his personal retainers, a team of men in black who all wear black shades and look highly professional. But despite their looks, they are all good-for-nothing incompetents. Mendo still has to do everything for himself.
He has a lot to deal with in his life. The fate of trillions rests on his head, but Mendo biggest troubles are with the people he deals with daily. His insane parents, his sadistic sister who delights in torturing him, a bodyguard who is more dangerous to him than protective, a girl who outdoes him at charming women, a fiance that could either kill him in fear or crush his spine with a single hug, and most of all his biggest enemy, Ataru Moroboshi who stands in the way of his happiness. Still he and Ataru do become best friends, even though neither of them would ever admit to that. It's still a very destructive kind of friendship.
The Meaning Behind the Name - 面堂終太郎
Mendo (面堂) means "trouble" or "complications." Yet it can also signifies "hall of the mask." "Shutaro" (終太郎) is a fairly typical given name.
Voices:
Akira Kamiya
Mamoru Miyano
Jack Stansbury
In the dubs of the films Mendo was played by Brian Hudson, while in Beautiful Dreamer he was played by Wayne Grayson (Vinnie Penna).